Makeshift family
by Joanna The Storyteller
Summary: Well, he had a harsh upbringing... but so did they. With pride, sloth, wrath, greed and just a little bit of lust thrown together since childhood, bonds grew tight enough to surpass the thickness of blood. This is their story.
1. Chapter 1

**Makeshift family**

* * *

**Chapter one: A raw thing to swallow.**

* * *

The campfire crackled as a piece of wood-turned-charcoal collapsed, sending a swarm of hot embers to reach for the yale-blue evening sky.

"Shika?" The brunette raised his head from the ground, feeling to tired to care about the dirt and gravel irritating his skin.

"Yeah?" He could hear the tension in her voice easily.

God knew he felt it too.

"Will he… be okay?"

She had her head turned down towards the dry, cracked earth so that he only could see her sweat-rimed brown hair, non of the loss in her eyes.

Shikamaru opened his mouth to answer, but was beaten to it.

"Yes, Hanabi-chan. He will."

The voice was soft and gentle, unwavering belief powering the words. They fit with the rapidly darkening sky, glowing embers and smell of decaying leafs. They were reassuring. As it turned out, it was not only the lithe Hyuuga who needed to hear that.

"The damn idiot…" the last member of their team said, restrained tears showing through in the way she spoke.

Hanabi sniffed.

The embers once again danced through the air, highlighting the unconscious person in the middle of the protective circle they had created.

Crack.

Shadows twisted behind the five humans as the fire reached higher.

"We will need to get back to Konoha soon," Shikamaru reminded the others. One glare and two shocked gazes met him.

"He's wounded Shikamaru," a teenage girl with hazel hair pointlessly reminded him while twiddling with a trio of shuriken.

_Skritch. Skrithch._

"And we need to complete the mission," he reprimanded the distraught kunoichi in a bored monotone.

'Why the hell do I have to take on the role of heartless ninja...?'

_Skritch. Shcrink._

"Tenten-san, please stop."

Tenten stopped, albeit reluctantly.

Seconds later she drew a kunai from her waist pouch, and began sharpening it. Apparently without noticing it.

_Shhhhink. Shhhhiiink._

The metal didn't gleam. It had been dulled so that it wouldn't reflect light.

She didn't want enemies to see her coming after all.

"Tenten." A short, curt tone. A politely concealed order. The young kunoichi jolted.

"Sorry Haku," Tenten apologized. "I'm a bit edgy." She glanced at the unmoving body. Haku did the same. Hanabi just stared into the ground, pale eyes still searching for an answer in the cracks lining the ground.

No wind blew, and the air was pretty dry. The sparse trees around them were bleached gray and white by the harsh sun and no rain.

The campfire served no real purpose. It was a risk even.

"We have to go. The other troops might reach us in half a day, and then we'll all die," Shikamaru reasonably said.

An owl hooted. It had apparently gotten lost, having ended up so deep into Iwa. It was a desolate place, with sparse resources and tough wildlife.

_Shk… Thud._

The unfortunate owl fell down, kunai embedded in its throat. Tenten stood up and walked away for the bird. The ration bars, however rich in nutrients, were neither filling nor tasty.

"Why did he do it?" Hanabi asked hoarsely. They had just about one liter water in total, and needed to preserve it for as long as possible.

That didn't stop her throat and mouth from feeling ashen.

"It is just who he is," Haku answered gently with a bit of sadness and warmth intertwined. Her eyes gained a lost quality.

He had screamed for her. Bled for her. Changed for her.

_"There are few like him. Treasure him, protect him Haku."_

Her masters words.

"It's just who he is," she repeated, more to herself than anyone else in an oddly happy voice.

Tenten returned with the owl held loosely in her left hand, a few drops of dark red slowly making their way to its feet, before falling down.

"In Iwa, the earth drinks blood," Shikamaru cited as he watched the drops splatter against the ground. The saying was old, but had been brought back into use during the third great ninja war. A war recent enough for his father to tell him about some of he horrors he had encountered there.

Shikamaru had never though much about it, until now.

'And what a true saying it is…' he grudgingly admitted to himself. The ninjas of Iwa, when in their own territory, were frightening.

* * *

_Hundreds walls of earth rose, spikes erupted from the ground and Shikamaru cursed. It was a fucking labyrinth, and their whole group was shattered. They were bleeding and tired, there shouldn't have been anyone in this area! And they walked straight into the ambush. It was five against eleven, bad odds. Odds made even worse by the healer, a rarity, who constantly made their damage undone._

_Hanabi had killed one in close-range before the walls had risen. Tenten two, and wounded a third badly. Haku wasn't in her element, and only managed to paralyze two, who were quickly healed. He hadn't killed anyone, but controlled their collaborate efforts with signs and commands._

_They had to take the healer out, but he had no idea where she wa-_

_Shikamaru rolled to the side as the walls beside him exploded in shrapnel, the debris slicing and ripping through his sides and right cheek._

_Fortunately, his pale gray armor shielded him from the most of the damage._

_The Iwa-nin was somewhere close… in the walls?_

_If so, he could lure him wi-_

_A scream tore through the walls of earth._

_That had been Hanabi. But she didn't sound hurt, just terrified._

_The wall next to him shifted as the ninja prepared his technique. A sloppy performance, probably the worst out of their enemies. His shadow pierced the woman through her eye before she even had the time to finish the first motions of her attack. Shikamaru sped up, running towards the area where Hanabi had screamed. Most likely the others would do the same, and if they met up they could break through and escape. He noticed a trail of light speeding up to him, and followed it to its origin._

_He had to thank the blonde later for setting the tracking seal up, even if its range was severely limited._

_Then he was in a circular dome of rock with light filtering through holes in the roof, illuminating the dust in the air._

_Tenten, Haku and him reached the spot at the same time from different portals of rock. Haku was limping and bleeding, Tenten's mask was cracked and her clothes ripped, even through the sturdy armor._

_Hanabi stood in the middle, wisely avoiding the walls. The spot she stood on was covered by a rough seal, apparently preventing her from moving. Five hostiles were in the dome, and the medic among them. Good, their numbers had been withered down._

_The bad thing about the scene was Naruto, being kicked around like a ragdoll, barely avoiding shrapnel and slabs of rock mingled with kicks and punches. One of the four were attacking the unmoving Hanabi, who didn't seemed to take any damage, but had pure terror visible in her milky eyes._

_Shikamaru was brought to a sudden stop. He could see... her eyes?  
_

_The mask was gone._

_Green chakra was flowing from the seal into her body, closing up wounds and stopping bleeding. She looked as if she had had it worst out of them._

_Haku screamed in wrath and launched a sickle of ice against two Iwa-ninja, both male._

_Shikamaru immediately calculated the water she had used from her flask to create that attack._

_Probably all. Not a good thing._

_Then again, he wasn't one to talk as his shadow extended and gained a magnitude strictly not healthy for his reserves, and Tenten was practically in the midst of the ninja, cutting and severing flesh with two wicked kurasigama._

_Naruto faltered._

_The seal underneath Hanabi broke._

_The Iwa-nin grinned and slashed with his ninjato, attempting to sever the Hyuuga's head._

_He got Naruto's stomach instead, the blonde having shunshined himself into the arc of the swing._

_His last action before toppling over, was to smile at Hanabi._

"…_run."

* * *

_

And they had run. After killing everyone except the healer, who was currently lying gagged and sealed thanks to Hanabi, and a critically wounded man who escaped into the earth.

They had been after her head.

'Byakugan most likely,' Shikamaru mulled. But how had they known? The mask should have hidden her face, but they still went after her first and foremost. Though since they went through the trouble of disposing of her mask first, they couldn't have been entirely sure.

According to Hanabi, Naruto had been the first to notice the hostiles intent, and had proceeded to use some sort of rejecting seal fused with healing techniques, as she was failing to fight in that tight space, outnumbered as she was. Shikamaru would have to admonish him for that. They had to know everything about each other, be it be relationships, dreams or new seals.

"You okay," Shikamaru asked the destroyed Hanabi.

"…do I look okay?"

Ah, that was good. A bit of her usual arrogant mocking. Though she still looked a bit pale. Too pale. She would have to snap out of it faster.

Tenten snorted.

"Like a princess, princess."

Even better, Tenten had gone back into her normal abusive/supporting personality.

Haku was edgy and silent, but probably screamed on the inside. A composed woman, truly.

Himself? He felt like having a nice long talk with those who had assigned them this mission.

And a couple of other persons responsible for info and things of the like.

"You… look like shit, firecracker," a raspy voice informed all present. Then coughed.

The clearing, spare the fire, was covered in silence for almost a second. Then-

"DAMMIT Naruto," Tenten burst out, "why the_ hell_ are you awake?"

Naruto smiled weakly, dried blood falling of his face as muscles moved under the skin.

"I smelt… your cooking." The blonde coughed again.

Tenten glanced at the raw meat hanging over the fire, and noticed that the lower part had turned charcoal.

"Oh. Very funny. Ha-ha."

She glared at him.

"Get back to your fucking sleep before I pound you there."

Naruto's smile widened, even as his eyelids fell down.

"Sorry to worry y'all… take it… easy, firecracker. I'll… survive." His breathing slowed down. "I… always do."

The last part was only mumbled.

Haku smiled at the blonde while Tenten's body shook with restrained emotion.

Hanabi glared at him through teary eyes.

"Idiot!" she hissed.

Shikamaru looked at the sky, ignoring the females. It would soon be night. Their campfire and the smell of meat would hint to Iwa's forces were they were.

He turned to the members of the team.

"Well move out after we have eaten," he commanded them.

They nodded in response.

A few drops of blood hissed and sizzled as it hit the burning wood. Shikamaru smiled savagely as the sickly sweet smell reached his nose.

Not all spilled blood had gone to the earth.

The fire had taken too.

* * *

Joannas notes.

And thus, a new story while I await some response 'bout Esthesis... just a tiny prologue for a different kind of story than Esth.  
Hope ya enjoyed it.


	2. Chapter 2: Understanding

**Makeshift family**

* * *

**Chapter Two: Understanding  
**

**

* * *

**When Naruto woke up, there was no one in the room.

His body relaxed at the implications of being in a hospital.

They had made it back.

"You are awake, Naruto-sama."

Okay, so he wasn't entirely alone. He smiled at the voice. How pleasant a thing to be the first to hear when waking up.

"Hey, Haku." he said with a voice sounding so tired it surprised himself. Had he been hurt that badly?

The young woman sat up from the chair she had occupied, making no sound at all as she rose. She was beautiful like that. Like a smooth wind, caressing you in the gentlest of ways.

The smell of disinfectants lingered in the air. He was used to it since long ago... ever since before that fated day, actually.

"The others?" he asked. Since he and Haku were back safely, they surely were too… but he couldn't be sure. Lives were never a thing to be treated lightly.

He readied his heart for bad news. Haku noticed and took his hand in hers. Her skin felt smooth against his.

She smiled reassuringly.

"Shikamaru-san was very insistent on granting us the greatest possible compensations for the mission."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow.

"Mission payment, parachute compensation, two weeks medical leave, and an additional bonus."

Naruto whistled. Two weeks medical leave… what an enormous amount of free time! He sunk back into the bed contently before seeing Haku's smiling face darken slightly.

"Naruto-sama. Do not risk your life like that."

Ah. He should've known it was coming. Actually, he had. And had miraculously prepared an attempt to explain his reasoning in his dreams… somewhat.

"…Haku, I wont say sorry," he began, "they would have killed Hanabi if I hadn't interrupted them. It was six versus one."

Haku shook her head at his attempt.

"You are not a direct-combat type Naruto-sama. You should have made a distraction and run off with her instead," she chided him.

Naruto hummed in a vague response, seeking to avoid her gently disapproving eyes. On his bedtable, in a simple vase of glass, one Lily of the Incas stood proudly in a small pool of clear water.

"Alstroemeria aurea, kinship, fortune and prosperity," Naruto mumbled as his half-lidded eyes studied the white-speckled orange flower. "Huh. Didn't think she would remember…"

Haku tilted her head and smiled while closing her eyes, the small hint of a bad mood gone. Naruto understood, so she would leave it.

"Of course she didn't. How could she, when that was all she had to think about for a week."

Naruto smiled back.

"Yeah, I suppose. Say, Haku." The kunoichi leaned forward, her black hair spilling forward from behind her shoulders in an inky mess.

Even in the artificial, heavy light of the hospital, he found her stunning.

"…How's everyone doing?. You too," he added after a second with a commanding tone. Haku's smile widened a fraction of an inch. Naruto always cared about everyone, no matter it be a tool or a friend.

He cared.

"Tenten's injuries, though serious, were not life threatening. I believe she will get out in two days, four before the assigned date. Much like you."

Naruto chuckled weakly. He didn't really enjoy hospitals, they stank of hopelessness. Of weakness. Tenten shared this feeling, and since they had often been injured together they snuck away together.

"Hanabi," she continued, "Sustained no physical injuries. I'm impressed. I didn't think it was possible to successfully seal medical chakra."

Naruto let a secretive smile play at his lips.

"Everything's possible with seals, Haku. How does she feel?"

"…Weak, I suppose. Indebted, and quite a bit angry with you. I believe Hanabi will want a match against you when you have escaped."

Naruto chuckled again, and closed his eyes. 'Escape' rather than 'Release'… well, she knew him.

"But you yourself said I am not a direct combat-type?"

Haku spread her hands in an I-don't-know-gesture.

"Her will, not mine."

The blond nodded his understanding with a rueful smile. And waited.

Haku took the hint, opened her soft lips to speak.

"I sustained the least damage. Dehydration, fatigue, small blood loss."

"And psychologically?"

Naruto waited with steely, blue eyes. She had often tried to make less of her pains and troubles to the degree that it didn't seem as they even existed.

He had learned through time, that he had to be completely unwavering if he wanted honest, correct answers.

"I was scared," she admitted, studying his eyes. That was another part that had caused her to accept him initially. The knowledge that he could take control.

A ruler.

Like Zabuza.

"And I see my part in the battle to be lacking. I worry about you, and feel nervous."

Her smile only widened.

"Enough?"

The wounded teenager huffed and rolled to the side in the rectangular bed.

"Yeahyeah. I'll sleep a while. Tell the others I'll be back soon."

Naruto breathed out a long steady breath.

"G'night Haku."

"Sleep well, Naruto-sama," Haku replied cordially.

* * *

Her surroundings blurred as she produced a hwando from her left sleeve.

She spun, stabbed the sword only to… stop.

Standing next to one wooden pole of many in the cleared training ground, she had perfect view over her surroundings.

Or she would have, if not for the white cloth strapped over her eyes.

Tenten growled. Her weapon had gotten stuck in the pole, again.

So fucking what she had nearly died in those dark, cramped tunnels? The keyword was nearly, and now that she had found a fault, she was going to destroy it as methodically as possible.

She was going to be flawless.

"Tenten-san!"

The weapon mistress stopped her next strike and removed the cloth.

"Yes, Lee?" she asked with a light panting. Her teammate glowed at her.

"Simply wonderful, you truly are a hard-worker! Through your burning efforts, we are sure to pass the exam splendidly this year!"

Tenten had already begun to filtrate most of what Lee said through one ear out of the other, when she suddenly caught something important in the buzzing distraction that was Lee.

"…Exam, Lee?"

Lee's mouth fell open comically.

"Tenten! The chuunin exams are due in one week! How could you forget!"

Tenten cursed. She had barely listened to Gai's words the past months, deeming them as inconsequential. Despite the appearances she needed to keep up, she had slipped.

And now Lee wou-

"YES! Yes! The chuunin exams, I remember. I'm just so focused on training that I tend to forget..." She paused. "You understand, right Lee? The… burning passion?"

Lee recovered from his previous shock and positively beamed at the young kunoichi. He could smell the sweat coming from her, even though the brisk breeze on the plain training area.

"Yes, I know what you mean Tenten. I truly do," he spoke sincerely. "But you cannot loose yourself in the training too completely. You need balance." He nodded to himself.

'Bah, I call bull,' Tenten thought inwardly. 'You train nearly as much, don't try to reprimand me!'.

Outwardly, she nodded too.

"Will think of it," she promised him. "But now I need to continue, so…" He caught the hint.

"Yes, Tenten-san! Do so, and I will runt eight-hundred laps around Konoha meanwhile, and if I ca-"

Tenten filtered him out once more, hardly noticing her teammate as the green-clad genin ran away.

'Shit, the exam! I wonder if the others have remembered… shit!"

Tenten cursed out loud and slashed at the log.

"What have the poor log done to deserve that," a jovial, if tired voice asked her.

Naruto. He must've been waiting for Lee to get out of the way.

"Oh, if it isn't the noble sacrifice." She spat. "What the fuck were you doing, trying to get yourself killed!"

'Déjà vu…' Naruto thought. She was like Haku two days earlier, but more… colourful with her language. Then he saw a rapidly growing red spot on her side and frowned.

"Speak for yourself. What are you doing, forcing a body that needs to rest to move. You wont heal faster that way."

"Right back at ya. Even with that freakish healing factor, you should rest more."

The spite was gone from her voice.

"Ah, but we are team eleven. We can hardly be counted to the sane… not to the normal even."

They both laughed. They knew they both were guilty of the others faults… and with no secrets to create a distance, it was easy to move on.

"Nah, I suppose we cant." She smiled at him, only to remember why she had been in a bad mood in the first place.

"The exams," Naruto guessed casually. Tenten nodded. "yeah, I had forgotten about that one too. We've had a _wee_ bit too much on out hands to think about old stuff…" he smirked.

"Gai entering you?"

Tenten nodded. "Kakashi?"

"Think so. He wanted to do it three years ago too, but since I had a bad stomach." Naruto's blue eyes gleamed mischievously. "We couldn't enter." He laughed. "Sakura and Sasuke were pissed, I tell you. Pissed. Sakura even came and told Hinata that she ought to beat me."

"For the Uchiha's sake, I suppose."

Naruto didn't loose his playful glint.

"True, true. But Hinata refused... that girl is steadily becoming stronger. So is he. No way near Itachi's shadow though."

"As if he could ever be. Kid doesn't understand how fucking powerful Itachi is." She looked Naruto square in his eyes. "And you aren't ready for him either, no matter how good you've gotten with seals, Naruto."

At first, he didn't answer her.

She looked at him expectantly, unconsciously trailing the reopened wound with her calloused fingers.

"No, I am not," he agreed. "But I will be. He chose me to kill him."

Memories flooded his mind and heart. How he stumbled upon a shinobi with crimson eyes bleeding tears. The insanely many thoughts being processed in his eyes during the span of just a few seconds, and then cold, hard resolution. How he himself had screamed as the man dissolved into crows that forced themselves into his mouth, and then silence.

Three days from that, he had woken. Woken with knowledge beyond his years. Knowledge that should have been hidden.

Naruto shook his head.

"I will be," he repeated sombrely. He caught brown Tenten's eyes. "Trust in me."

She sighed at him, before slapping an arm over his shoulder.

"I do. We all do. Just don't go alone, okay. We're family Naruto." She knew he knew it. But sometimes, morons, even intelligent and skilled ones, needed to be reminded.

"Yeah," he smiled. "Family."

* * *

It seemed Hanabi had been waiting for him. She was sitting in seiza with closed eyes, and probably had since god knew when.

"Hi firecracker," he greeted her nervously. The teenager didn't respond.

"Hope the tatami-mats are soft," he tried. Cause really, if it was one of hose stiff kinds, her knees and feet had to hurt bad.

Real bad.

"I have thought about what you did, and why you did it, Naruto-san."

Uh oh. Formal speech.

Naruto readied the scroll he kept hidden in his left hand.

Hanabi slowly opened her eyes, framed by thick brown bangs. She was dressed in her usual garb, soft black clothes with fishnet beneath.

"And while I do not necessarily approve of your conduct, I am ready to forget and leave forgotten."

"Great, I'll ju-"

"For a certain price, of course." The veins around her eyes bulged. The need to say "byakugan" was just a focus, a way to concentrate and channel the power. Hardly needed for a genius of her calibre.

Naruto nodded with a tired smile. He had expected it. "Well then. Ladies first."

And promptly threw a trio of shuriken against her. Like hell he was going to give her the first move! He needed to keep her away.

Hanabi eased herself up and moved through the shuriken with minimum effort, and then spun to a crouching stance a bare meter away, already preparing to launch a "gentle" fist into his sternum.

It had taken less than a second for her to get there.

It had taken even less for Naruto to channel chakra to the scroll.

"Fuuin: Kemuri," Naruto whispered. A cloud of water vapor spilled in humongous amounts from the scroll, covering the whole room in a white smokescreen. He would stand no chance against her in close-combat, he needed time. Time and space.

Naruto moved through the white enveloping them, listening for Hanabi while making the smallest amount of sound he possibly could. The cloud was infused with chakra, which should blind her byakugan.

"Stupid. I know your tricks."

To his right, four meters. Knowing her, she would use her favoured gentle fist against his leg, he could use tha-

Naruto threw himself to the side as a shuriken whizzed by.

'Shuriken! From Hanabi!"

"I told you, stupid. I know you know me. I can adapt."

Right. She was a genius. Damn, but it sucked having those against yourself.

Something tapped his arm. The artificial fog had been turned to his disadvantage.

"One arm gone." Hanabi was amused. "What to take next?"

The male teenager smirked, despite the irritating numbness radiating from below his right elbow and the hand that suddenly pressed against his stomach.

Hanabi smirked before Naruto spoke in a bemused, mocking tone.

"Gravel, perhaps?"

The earth-clone fell to pieces by the force of her chakra-infused strike, and a very much corporeal fist slammed into her head.

"Out," Naruto called with satisfaction.

Before the female fell apart in wisps of chakra.

"Yeah, out," Hanabi agreed and laid a heavy hook in his side. Naruto grunted in pain as he felt his floating ribs creak.

"How undignified," he coughed out.

A knee happily greeted his face.

"Damn firecracker…" Naruto took a fist to his chin but felt some satisfaction as hastily thrown punch connected.

"Ugh!"

"Ouch!"

"egh-"

"Hu-!

* * *

Shikamaru, escorted by Haku, looked at his two friends with disbelief.

"…Are you serious?" he questioned the two.

Hanabi had the grace not to blush.

"It was payment," she told him. Naruto hummed.

"Yeah… _pain_ment." He looked around himself expectantly. Shikamaru looked supremely bored, Hanabi almost lost her composure in the face of the extremely poor joke. Only Haku smiled.

"Perhaps the path of a jester isn't yours, Naruto-sama," she suggested with a twinkle to her hazel eyes.

"Absolutely not," Hanabi agreed wholeheartedly.

Shikamaru's silence was telling on its own.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and laughed quietly.

"Yeah? Perhaps you're right."

A nurse came and went, checking the two patients. More a formality than anything else, the hospital kept careful check of those who tended to run away from hospital care. Hanabi was one of the twin-daughters of the Hyuuga clan-head, and not one to pester with rules. Whatever she wanted, she got. Naruto… well, he healed up fast. And they preferred to keep a – mostly – professional distance from the container.

"Our medical leave will be extended for as long as the chuunin exams are lasting," Shikamaru told them. He had his hair up in a pineapple shape, like usual. His tone of urgency however, was not as usual.

"It has been decided that we have stalled long enough. Any more, and not only will it seem suspicious, it will be a hindrance to our genin-teams."

"Will we abandon the cover entirely after the exam?" Hanabi questioned. Shikamaru shook his head.

"It's a drag, but I honestly don't know. Something is happening in the world, something above our heads, that's for sure. What it is, and what effects it will have…" he shrugged. "I can only guess."

Naruto gave the genius a crooked smile.

"Guess away, Shika," he said with a shooing motion. "You're the tactician for a reason." Haku turned to him expectantly, as the matter involved Naruto.

He sighed.

"You put too much trust in me, Naruto. I know you have your ideas already formulated, and Hanabi has probably gotten some hint from the Hyuuga, given her position. Tenten and Haku are probably the only ones who don't have a clue."

As on cue, Tenten stepped into the white, square room. She looked as if she was a cat having just caught a fish. A very fine fish.  
"Eh, don't think so little of me, Shikamaru," she chided him mockingly. "I happen to have a few pieces of information."

Shikamaru raised a black eyebrow.

"Oh? Do tell," he muttered.

Tenten smirked. "Will do. The smiths of this village lack the time for special requests, the extraction of iron and metals in our mountains have increased, and lastly there have been an enormous increase of D-rank missions." She winced. "Gai-sensei is fond of them. We've been doing dozens every day the last weeks."

Shikamaru nodded. "Hanabi?"

The heiress hesitated before speaking. "The bi-annual check on the cage-bird seal was changed into a bi-monthly, temporarily, by the elders and father. As compensation, the families of those non-Hyuuga related to us will be included in a third tier of the family. A great honour, with benefits for both sides. Also, our training-regimen has become stricter, and father is occupied with meetings more often."

"Naruto?"

The hospitalized boy grew a foxy smile.

"Want our information before you give any, huh, Shika?" His smile grew sharp. "Sure. I've got some. The interval between the guard's schedules have lessened by a good near forty-percent. The price on rice have increased exponentially, the taxes have increased. The academy have had an increase in faux emergency tests, and have had the time reserved for history and hypothetical subjects lessened in favour of the practical. The hospitals have gotten a higher budget, and there are plans to widen the village's perimeter… that about it?"

Naruto's vulpine, nearly hungry smile stayed on even after he had shared his knowledge.

"Kage-bunshin?"

"Henged," Naruto nodded.

"Ah." Shikamaru thought for a moment. "Most likely… we are going to war," he casually said, as if discussing weather. The others didn't interrupt, though Naruto nodded his agreement. "Those who have allied against us are… Suna and Oto, I would believe."

"Why would you think those?" Tenten wondered. "Suna are our allies."

"The price on rice has risen. The land of rice is the main manufacturer, and has been doing well on its own. Since the recently created Oto came to power, the dealings with other countries became far less beneficial for the others. Secondly, as a sign of our trust to Suna, we import out metal from their mines. If we start mining on our own, it is a sign that the trust somehow has been broken. Our blacksmiths have been swamped with orders from higher up, meaning mass-production," Shikamaru finished.

"Our clan's beneficial deals have, among other things, tied several hundreds of families possessions and skills directly under us. The Hyuuga plan to survive," Hanabi concluded. Naruto smiled grimly at her.

"Yeah. Everything's pointing towards war." He turned to Shikamaru. "Well, you've summarized what we know. Now tell me, tactician, what was _your_ clue?"

The brunette sighed, but smiled all the while. Ah, the memories.

"That we were created."

* * *

Team Elevens creation was a unique thing never seen before. There were a scarce few who knew of its existence, and even fewer who were part of it.

It's first member had been recruited one year after the Uchiha massacre.

A blonde boy, once boisterous and cheery, then subdued with piercingly intelligent eyes.

They had told him that he had two choices. Join them, and be brutally reconstructed with elite teachers in order to protect Konoha, without actually knowing the details of why or even when he would serve them.

The other choice was to forget.

The ANBU had smiled grimly behind her mask when the boy accepted the duty, unflinching and cold.

The next one had been an orphaned female idolizing Tsunade with a burning will to defeat everyone. A female with rough, calloused hands for throwing an already then astounding amount of weapons.  
A true prodigy of steel, failure of the elemental arts, her academy teachers had summarized.

The ANBU had approached her. Told her that they needed someone who could kill with pure weaponry. No chakra, just metal. She would receive any training she wanted and be part of a team with unspecified purpose, be sworn to secrecy.

The brunette had smirked when she accepted.

The third member was a slacker. A dead last, and failure according to all analyses of the boy.

The ANBU found a boy who brutally sought to be alone from all his ignorant peers. A boy who detested adequacy, but hid it with a mask of sloth.

They found a unparalleled genius.

You will be part of an elite team. You will not learn of your purpose. No one will know your role except a handful of elites. You will be given the position to decide, under the oath of secrecy. You will be given lives to rule.

The boy had simply stared at the ANBU, before giving him a crooked smile.

The fourth member of their team was brought in by the first member. A girl with faithfulness like the kunoichi of the old times of war, loyal beyond words.

A girl with a power thought to be extinct since the great purges of Kiri, and a genius at that. A girl who had been a Hunter.

The ANBU had only asked if she would follow the first boy, and die for him.

Her eyes had told the ANBU all he needed to know.

The last member was an arrogant, cold girl with eyes like the frozen tundra's. A girl who's potential skill was rivalled by only one, a girl with such position, influence and upbringing that she could raise a small army if she needed.

A girl who loved none, and despised all.

Did she want to be part of an elite unit that not even her father and teachers would be aware of. Did she want to be part of a team that might well save her country, with none knowing it?

The anonymous elite, above all.

She had nodded her acceptance, a hint of vengeful pride in her posture.

Yes, her eyes told the ANBU. She would.

* * *

"We were never told our purpose, but the facts that we are who we are, we can do what we can do, and that we were created when we were created is almost enough."

Naruto grinned wickedly.

"Don't stall, Shika. Tell us." Shikamaru gave a half-hearted glare at Naruto before proceeding.

"What we have here, are two clan-heirs, the container of the Kyuubi, the user of an extinct bloodline, and a civilian girl who has risen from the slum to become a ninja, without any notable use of chakra. We are who we are. Symbols."

Hanabi closed her eyes thoughtfully.

"Might of the regal… Blood of the commoner… Sacrifice of the innocent… Perseverance of the shunned… Power of the mind… symbols." Hanabi counted up with a satisfied tone. Shikamaru nodded.

"That's nobles tongue for you." Hanabi glared at him. Shikamaru coughed. "What we can do, is to remain anonymous. Tenten can use weapons and techniques from all over the world. It can't be linked to any specific place. The same goes for you Naruto, though opposite. Sealing is an art where one himself creates the seals, or use the mass-manufactured ones. Tenten can be linked to the whole world, you only to yourself. I am a thinker and strategist, I control pieces. That can't be linked. Lastly, while the Hyuuga techniques are identifiable, we have Haku to erase any evidence skilfully. Haku herself is an unknown entity and not even from Konoha in the first place."

Naruto picked up the next thread.

"We are part of the most influential generation in Konoha for ages, we have nearly all the clan-hairs and promising shinobi gathered around us. The Uchiha massacre led to it becoming a necessity to keep an extra careful watch over the new blood. And voila, team eleven," Naruto finished with a mock flourish.

The subject somewhat emptied, near silence filled he sterile room, the only sound being the monotone humming from an air-conditioner. Each member of team eleven thought about what they had heard, coming to their own conclusions. A nurse sprayed some perfume near the air-conditioner.

It smelt like citrus rather than disinfectants. A much nicer smell.

"So what now?" Tenten asked, finally breaking the silence. "Back to the teams and prepare for the exams? Any restrictions on how we are going to pass?"

"We don't know yet," Naruto spoke. "But yeah. Training like normal. We don't know each other very well officially, 'cept Haku and I. Shika somewhat."

"Vacation then," Hanabi summarized.

Naruto laughed.

* * *

Hanabi didn't quite like her teammates.

This was a fact.

"I wish I could've been on Sasuke-kun's team…" Sakura sighed, her long, pink hair blowing in a gentle wind, carrying the scent of jasmine shampoo.

It smelt offensive to her. Too strong. While hygiene was absolutely necessary, there was no need to flaunt ones presence all over the world.

She herself used a simple, odourless shampoo and conditioner.

"Oi, quit yer whining Sakura," Kiba growled at the pinkette.

Sakura huffed in annoyance.

"Kiba! You wouldn't understand. Sasuke-kun doesn't only have the skills, but the looks to back it up! He'd made chuunin in no time if not for Naruto!"

"… It's supposed to be the other way around," Hanabi informed, trying her hardest not to sound as completely superior and skillful as she was.

Oh. She failed.

Sakura blushed with anger, jumping of the pole connected to the bridge they were standing on, waiting for their sensei.

"Like you can say anything, Hanabi. If you hadn't been sick three years ago, we could've gone to the chuunin exam! And sensei didn't think we were ready for the other countries exams because of you!"

"No. Because you wouldn't survive without the advantage of home territory. Kiba… probably. Not you."

Kiba snickered. While he didn't like Hanabi's frozen arrogance and bratty attitude, at the very least she delivered her arrogance equally.

"Easy, easy," Kurenai sighed tiredly. Three and a half year ago, she had had a great deal of hope for her team. Her _first_ team. She had wanted Hinata, Kiba and Shino, recognising their individual issues, and feeling competent enough to mend them. She was ready to take the world with storm as her first team blasted away more senior jounin's squads.

Like Kakashi, that insufferable, tardy man.

In the end, she didn't get her dreamteam. Shino was placed with a newcomer kunoichi, Haku, and some kid named Sai. The disposal squad, number six, under the former ANBU Uzuki Yuugao. Apparently her former rank gave her some small advantages when placing tabs on squad members.

She got Sakura instead, a violent girl with book-smarts and control surpassing her peers.

Hinata, the shy and timid girl that Kurenai easily could relate to as the girl she was before the war had forced her to grow, had been her next pick. Then she learnt that it was a custom for the middle, highest and lowest ranked students to be placed together to balance the team out. So Hinata ended up with the rookie of the year, Uchiha Sasuke, and the dead last, Naruto.

Instead, she had been given the undoubtedly extraordinarily powerful twin-sister of Hinata, Hanabi. Byakugan like byakugan right, with some extra talent thrown in her.

A compensation, she guessed.

Well, she got Kiba, at least. He was someone she could work with. She could still make her team. The tracker team.

She still had hope, between Hanabi's genius, Kibas's camaraderie and Sakura's brain, it could work.

Between Hanabi's coldness, Kibas's aggressiveness and Sakura's shallowness, things didn't work out.

"This year, the exam is back in Konoha." She paused and eyed the genin seriously. "This time, you are ready. This time, you are strong enough. Sakura, we will work on your genjutsu. Kiba, I'll introduce you to one from the Akimichi-clan. He will teach you some poisons and drugs to use. Hanabi… I cannot help you with your clan's techniques. I'm sorry, but unless you have any special requests, you will have to train with your family."

Hanabi nodded. "I will be with my clan then, Kurenai," she said before jumping of the bridge on to the water, and casually walking away. Kurenai closed her eyes at the blatant disrespect the young genin showed. No matter how talented, if she kept that attitude up she would never become something big.

Kurenai sighed tiredly again.

'This is not how I imagined it to be.'

* * *

Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji were just lazing about as usual when Asuma arrived at the traditionally styled house.

"Yo, team," he greeted them with an easy smile. Shikamaru waved a hand in his general direction without bothering to open his eyes, while Chouji enthusiastically bopped his head up and down in acknowledgement of their teachers presence.

"Morning Asuma-sensei!"

Ino's greeting was the only verbal one.

"Ready for the exam?" he greeted them with a confident and reassuring voice, leaning casually against the wooden rack of the house.

"You bet!" Ino pumped her fist into the air. "Right guys!", she called out with a voice leaving no room for argument.

"Too loud Ino…" Shikamaru muttered with a light wince.

Asuma chuckled at his team.

"I believe in you. I thought you might have a chance the first year. This year, I am sure. You will win."

"Hell yeah we will! As long as Chouji loses some weight and Shikamaru shows some enthusiasm, they wont stand a chance!"

"Hanabi, Sasuke and that Haku then?" Chouji asked her with a frown that might have been due to worry, or more likely, the amount of salted chips he was propping into his mouth.

She faltered a bit. "Well… Sasuke is… but those girls? Hah! Them, I can beat with one arm."

Shikamaru groaned.

"Ino, stop assuming that you are the alpha female. You have seen what Hanabi can do. And that Haku-girl was handpicked by an ANBU, I've heard. They are strong."

"Do you have to be that negative Shika? And where is the fighting spirit, where is your trust in me!"

Asuma coughed, having lit a thin rolled cigarette and taken a too deep breath.

"She has a point, Shikamaru," he told the lazy genin. "You have to believe in the team. Like they believe in you."

'…Pathetic happy-go-lucky idiots the both of them' Shikamaru thought with carefully concealed spite. He knew it wasn't their fault, and he understood that the village sought to protect them from the dangers of the world… but that was just too naïve! He had seen true battles; he had had lives of ninja who was prepared to sacrifice themselves in his hand. He had seen life, he had seen death… he knew.

"Shika, wan' a potato chip?"

"No thanks, Chouji. No thanks."

"Get your asses up! We need to train!"

He missed team eleven already.

* * *

"Hiiiii-naaaa-taaa-chaaaan~" Naruto called out jovially with a face-splitting grin.

"H-hi Naruto-kun!" Hinata greeted him back with a light blush. She had gotten better over the years after she realized that no, it was no dream…

She was on a team with the boy she admired!

Naruto!

"Bastard," Naruto greeted Sasuke.

"Hn. Deadlast."

"N-now now, don't be l-like that, Sasuke-san, Naruto-kun." Hinata stepped in between the two boys. "We are a t-team. Lets prepare for the exam."

"She's right," Kakashi said from his secluded spot in a nearby tree. The sound of a page being turned emanated from it in a continuous repeat.

A quick shunshin later, and he was in their midst.

"It's time to become chuunins." He didn't say " a chance to become". He was definite. They would become chuunin.

"I tried to get you away to the other exams, but the third stopped me. Something about too many valuables on one team."

Hinata remembered the Kumo incident.

"Y-yes. We understand. Our bloodlines are too important to risk."

Sasuke hnned his agreement.

"Eh, eh! They meant me right? Cause I am gonna be Hokage!" Naruto practically screamed with a maniac-like grin.

Hinata looked to the side embarrassedly.

"I think t-they thought about out eyes, Naruto-kun. B-but you might be right!" she hurriedly assured him.

Sasuke snorted.

"Yeah right."

"Maa, it might not be Hokage, but Naruto is also vital to this village," Kakashi smiled.

'Fuckers, it was all for me. For my container status, for the fact that I wasn't strong enough to be able to protect you fully, for me having a more important part to play in team eleven… everything.'

Outwardly, he just smiled. Like always. Kakashi took a peek underneath, and sure – probably underneath that too.

But what Kakashi failed to calculate, was that sometimes you had to look a bit to the side too.

"R-ready, Naruto-kun?"

"You bet!"

You bet.

Heh.

* * *

"We will soon enter the exam," Sai said unnecessarily.

"Yes. Though our talents might be a bit out of place."

Haku inclined her head.

"Indeed. But I am sure we will succeed, else Yuugao-sensei wouldn't have entered us." She smiled gently and closed her eyes. "Right, Sensei?"

"Correct, Haku. We will nor break routine in our training. Its efficiency is already maximized."

Shino nodded briefly. Indeed, it was.

Then they all fell into silence. No one caring for the other as more than associates at work. Professional enough to risk their lives for each other if the mission required it, but that was all.

Yuugao was satisfied with her team. Shino had been one of the candidates for team eleven, but had been ruled out as the role of thinker had been filled by Shikamaru, and the role of hunter by Haku. But the kid would go far, undoubtedly, given his silent drive and analytical mind.

Sai, she suspected, was already part of ANBU. In some of it's many branches and missions she had no idea about. His skills were curious ones, and she had yet to understand the subtleties of his art.

Art.

That was funny.

Yuugao didn't smile.

* * *

The weeks before the chuunin exams flew by in a flash, with no further instructions to come.

Team eleven was scattered into five squads. Each squad held geniuses, heirs, and sometimes a combination of the two. It was the greatest concentration of potential power to ever have graced Konoha.

And they were all going to participate in one gruelingly bloody exam with the most elite from several nations.

Tenten grew restless with bursting energy, polishing and testing every single one of her weapons.

Shikamaru slept more and more, calculating thousands of paths, formulating hundreds of ideas.

Hanabi sat in the Hyuuga's artificial waterfall, meditating and purging her chakra.

Haku went to soak in the hot springs daily, relaxing her nerves and thinking about how to best protect Naruto.

And Naruto?

He painted. Painted and drew and painted, each inky line perfection with a hint of subtle, dangerous power.

The seals were humming. He was humming with them.

This exam was going to be special. This exam, they would finally know more about the purpose for which they were created.

Odd ones, outcasts even, gathered together.

Bleeding together, they became a group.

Being broken together, they grew into friends.

And through offering themselves with nothing to gain and all to loose… they had become family.

Perhaps even surpassing that.

Naruto hummed as the seals hissed and glowed red.

He didn't really know if one could classify their relationships as anything. Though if he had to put a name on the feelings he held for his group, love would probably come the closest.

Four different kinds of love, but all just as important.

The finalized seal hissed at him, trying to overthrow his authority.

Foolish. He was close to achieving master status in the sealing world. A mere seal like this one... defying him?

Hah.

Love… such a difficult concept.

Naruto laughed out loud as the seal gave away for him.

It didn't really matter, that stuff.

The important was that it was.

And would remain.

* * *

Joanna's Notes.

Chapter two with some background information... as you noticed, Hinata and Hanabi are suddenly twins. The reasoning behind that... is that I'm god here.

No, really. I just think Hanabi would be a better fit, and have some vague interesting ideas for the plot as a result.

Oh speaking of plot... I'll really have to decide which girl to pair Naruto with. Or girls, depending on what I feel like. I have so many lovely ideas for every possibility... I am at loss of what to chose.  
Well - I'll come around to a decision sometime.

Until then - see ya.

Glossary:

Kemuri: Smoke


End file.
